Jean Tanner/For Bluffton Today One of three mausoleums on the property offers memorial niches.

Jean Tanner/For Bluffton Today Birds in flight in the fountain at the entrance of Sauls Funeral Home.

At the moment of conception, your life begins on a journey. During your lifespan this journey will take you to mountain heights of happiness and valleys of sorrows.

At the end of life’s journey, when death embraces you, that’s when your family left behind will need someone dependable with compassion to turn to. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines compassion as “a sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress, together with a desire to alleviate it” This is a description of Sauls Funeral Home, its owners and staff.

First impressions

For a child, no matter what age, the first funeral they attend can leave a memorable impression.

I know it did to me. I was eleven years old when my 85-year-old Grandma Simmons died at our home, where she was living with us after suffering a stroke and being cared for by my mother, Gladys Simmons.

Sauls Funeral Home was contacted and Mr. L. Martin Sauls Jr. arrived at our home to prepare her body for burial, bringing all the essentials needed, including the casket.

In those days, families could opt to have the deceased remain in the home for visitations up until time for the funeral service.

I remember getting out of bed during the night and going in the living room where the casket was set up. The casket was left open and a small green lamp on the floor at the base of the casket was left on, casting an eerie light in the room that reflected on Grandma’s face.

I saw a different Grandma, lying still in the quietness of the night, her head with her beautiful white hair she always wore twisted on top her head, on a soft, satin pillow.

Gone were the days the tiny little woman always wearing her long, navy, dotted swiss dress while sitting in a rocking chair on our front porch at night telling us stories of when she was growing up and always singing the song “Go Tell Aunt Rhode” while the cicadas added their own music.

There was a graveside service for her in the family cemetery plot on the banks of the Stoney Creek and those gathered there, as a gentle breeze rustled through the trees swaying the hanging moss, sang the hymn “Shall We Gather At The River” before the minister ended the service by saying “ashes to ashes and dust to dust,” a phrase that really stuck in my mind.

That night while trying to go to sleep, a tissue I was using to dry tears from my eyes fell off the side of my bed. When I leaned way over to retrieve it, I glanced under the bed and saw several “dust bunnies” and in an audible voice I asked, “Grandma, is that you?”

There was silence, so I layed back down in contentment and fell asleep.

Early beginnings

It was originally known as Ridgeland Funeral Home in the early 1900s when owned and operated by L. Martin Sauls Sr. The name was changed after his death to Sauls Funeral Home by the new owners and operators, L. Martin Sauls Jr. and his wife Reba, the parents of the present owner L. Martin Sauls III.

L. Martin Sauls Jr. was also the county coroner for 29 years until his death in 1979, when the Governor of South Carolina appointed L. Martin Sauls III to serve the unexpired term of his father. He was elected Jasper County Coroner in 1981 and still holds that position today.

Becoming a full-time employee of Sauls Funeral Home in 1971 after graduating from the Kentucky School of Mortuary Science, L. Martin Sauls III still leans toward the experience of the hands-on learning he received from his father by listening to and watching him on a daily basis.

One of those learned traits was seeing the compassion his father had when dealing with families with broken hearts over the death of a loved one.

L. Martin Sauls has that same compassion and was lucky enough to marry a girl, Diane Punzel, in 1978 who is just as compassionate.

Diane Sauls, a lovely lady with a contagious laugh, became an essential part of the family business and does everything from A to Z. In addition to the Sauls Funeral Home at 90 Simmonsville Rd. in Bluffton, which was built in 2002, the original funeral home on Adams Street in Ridgeland is still in operation.

Downtime

Aside from being on call 24/7 with the business, Martin and Diane strive to exercise, live a healthy lifestyle and spend time with their two grandchildren.

Martin recently participated in the Raven’s Run, a fundraiser for St Gregory the Great. If you’re running in a 5K race in the area, don’t be surprised if the “streak” that just passed you is L. Martin Sauls III, like he did to me in the Hilton Head Bridge Run some years ago.

Staff members

Jerimiah Vaigneur joined Sauls Funeral Home as an employee in 1989 while he was still in high school. The 40-year-old native of Ridgeland started out literally washing cars for the business, including the hearse.

After attending Ogeechee Technical College, he graduated with an associate degree in mortuary science. When his internship was finished, he passed the state exam and became a licensed mortician. He also serves as deputy coroner under Martin.

Besides carrying out the aspects of the business, being a deacon at Ridgeland Baptist Church qualifies him to perform eulogies at some services when a family doesn’t have its own minister.

The most recent hire at the funeral home is local 25-year-old Samantha Britt, a Clemson University graduate working on her apprenticeship.

Sauls Funeral Home in Bluffton, sitting on 30 acres of landscaped property, offers three mausoleums and a large space for perpetual care.